TUCSON, Ariz. – The Macalester College baseball team took two losses in the Tucson Invitational on Sunday, defeated by Carthage College 13-1 and by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges 17-4. Over the opening weekend of their spring Arizona trip, the Scots are now 0-4 and their season record falls to 1-5.
 
Carthage started the first game by tagging Macalester starting pitcher Caleb Chou-Green (San Francisco, Calif./Peddie School) with three runs in the first and third innings, building a quick 6-0 lead for the Firebirds. The Scots only managed to put two runners on base in the first three innings, but the bats woke up in the fourth with a leadoff triple from junior Tristan Jones (Fairfield, Conn./Greens Farms Academy). Jones was brought home by an RBI single from sophomore Isaiah Ramirez (Houston, Texas/Northbrook) to make the score 6-1.
 
After the early struggles, Chou-Green found a groove and kept the Firebirds without a baserunner in the fourth and fifth innings. More trouble came in the sixth inning, with a string of Carthage hits and a 2-run homer bringing the score to 11-1. Senior right-hander Izzy Flood (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) kept the Firebirds to just two more runs for a final score of 13-1.
 
The Scots took on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the second game of the day, looking for revenge after a loss to the Stags the night before. Sophomore Josh Schmidt (Chicago, Ill./Whitney M. Young Magnet) took the mound for the first time this season and kept the opposing offense at bay for the first two innings, only allowing one run in each. Macalester cut the lead in half in the third inning, with a Josh Planko (Northville, Mich./Northville) single driving home Holden Peacock (Houston, Texas/Kincaid School). The Stags offense responded in the third with a flurry of hits, tagging Schmidt with five more runs and reliever Shun Mizuno (Irving, Texas/Ranchview) for three to bring the score to 9-1 early.
 
Macalester found more offense in the fifth inning through a string of singles. After first year Aram Dombalagian (Glenview, Ill./North Shore Country Day School) scored on a throwing error, junior Niko Alexander (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) brought home Planko with an RBI single. After a solo homer for the Stags in the bottom of the fifth, the Scots got a run back through a Dombalagian RBI, making the score 11-4 in the top of the sixth inning. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps put up another big offensive inning in the bottom of the sixth to end the game 17-4.
 
Macalester will look to get back on track on Monday against Winona State University at 12pm CDT, 11am local.